Client Features

3 minute read By Amanda Kuhnert  When Dawn Wagner took a job at Lake Champlain Chocolates as a student at the University of Vermont, she had no intention of becoming a chocolatier. Her focus, at the time, was theater. After graduation, Wagner moved to New York City, where she worked as a stage manager for on- and off-Broadway […]

2 minute read By Amanda Kuhnert  About six months into the pandemic, Katya d’Angelo and Chris Triolo purchased a brick-and-mortar business right around the corner from where they live in downtown Waterbury, Vermont. The two are known around town for their ice-cream tricycle, The Udder Guys—a side business to their day jobs in marketing and computer programming. But […]

2 minute read By Amanda Kuhnert  For years, Nadia Dole had stopped at Vergennes Laundry on her way to visit family in Montreal. She loved the simplicity of the French-style café and bakery on Main Street in Vergennes, and even considered purchasing the business when it went up for sale in 2017 by then-owners Julianne and Didier Murat. […]

2 minute read By Amanda Kuhnert In 2013 Trevor Sullivan was looking for free business advice from someone with experience and enthusiasm to help. At the time, he was trying to open his first business—a vegan restaurant in downtown Burlington, and needed assistance organizing his financials for a loan application. Sullivan reached out to the Vermont Small Business […]

3 minute read By Amanda Kuhnert “Despite Covid-19, we were struck by the support we’ve received,” said Adam Polonski, co-owner of Lost Lantern Spirits, a Vermont-based independent bottler of American whiskey. “From our bank to VtSBDC, it’s evident how supportive Vermont is towards young entrepreneurs.” Polonski and his partner Nora Ganley-Roper recently relocated to Weybridge, Vermont from New […]

3 minute read By Amanda Kuhnert In the spring of 2021, Seth Barrows plans to retire from the military after 27 years of service. More than likely, he’ll celebrate his retirement with a pint of his own beer and then get back to work. Barrows’s second career as a brewmaster and entrepreneur has already begun. His new business, […]

3 minute read Chester boutique consolidates and expands during Covid-19 crisis By Amanda Kuhnert “Covid-19 made us re-evaluate what was important to us and what we really wanted to be doing,” said Jessie Alon, co-owner of DaVallia Gallery & Boutique in Chester, Vt. Before the pandemic, Jessie and her husband Michael were operating two business locations—an art gallery […]

3 minute read When Ed and Lea Arnold first started making peanut brittle as a unique holiday gift for a friend, they had no inkling that their love of cooking blended with a handcrafted recipe would become the ingredients for a future business, Vermont Peanut Brittle. As making peanut brittle became an annual event, their list of recipients […]